Drugs worth Dh15.27M seized, 19 peddlers nabbed in Sharjah
sharjah — The anti-narcotics department of the Sharjah Police smashed a huge drug racket by arresting 19 Asian peddlers, while seizing 20kg of heroin and crystal drugs worth Dh15.27 million from them. The seizures and arrests were made under a police operation — ‘Coordinates’ — launched by the cops recently.
The suspects, who were promoting the drugs through various social media networks, buried the stuff in the desert and shot pictures of it while also sending the photos of the location to the buyers. Some of them even hid them in the engines of used cars.
The peddlers — aged between 20 and 43 — were arrested from various industrial and residential areas. Some of them were caught red-handed while hiding the narcotics in the desert.
Addressing a Press conference, Brig Mohammed Rashid Al Bayat, director of the Sharjah Police department, said that it is considered one of the biggest drug haul in 2017, not in terms of the quantity seized but in the number of people involved. “All the suspects were absconders and visitors who overstayed in the country as well as infiltrators,” he added.
Lt. Col Majid Al Assaf, director of anti-narcotics department of the Sharjah Police, said that they received a tip-off about a drug smuggling racket. Acting on this information, the police immediately formed a team, which managed to identify one of the suspects
All the suspects were absconders and visitors who overstayed in the country as well as infiltrators.” Brig Mohammed Rashid Al Bayat, director, Sharjah Police department
who was arrested red-handed with 15 rolls of heroin and crystals.
During interrogation, the suspect informed the police that he had obtained the substance from another person of same nationality who stored drugs in different locations. The police arrested him from a residence in Sharjah. He told the police about the locations in the desert where he buried the drugs and revealed information about his other accomplices. The police team continued their search and investigation and nabbed another suspect possessing 77 rolls of the drugs, which were found in his home. The cops arrested all the 19 suspects from different hideouts.
Lt Col Jassem Al Suwaidi, deputy director of Anti-Narcotics Department of the Sharjah Police, said; “The police team worked day and night to bust the racket and arrested them one by one.”
The department authorities urged the people to cooperate with the Sharjah Police and contribute to combating the scourge of drugs by contacting the anti-narcotics agencies on 8004654 or telephone the officer at Department of Narcotics Control, Sharjah Police Department on 0561188272 or email: notodrugs@shjpolice.gov.ae.